ExEm Podcast

Conversations around life, faith, and the journey of mental health.

Experience Emerge (ExEm) with musician-turned-mental health therapist, Matt Knabe, uncovers the various ways people find rest and live free amidst the crazy challenges life brings. With a zoned-in focus, Matt carefully probes into the broken places of people’s lives, bringing the listener into the experience, all the while adding life tools and insights.

Episode 8: Relaxation Exercise

Matt Knabe • May 19, 2020

In this episode, host Matthew Knabe, MA, LPC shares a relaxation technique he has been using with clients for years. This is taken from the script developed by Dr. Richard N. Feil, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Mansfield State College in PA. Progressive Relaxation Training is a skill that can learned overtime with practice. Be patient with the experience of relaxing. Feel free to utilize this episode as often as needed to practice quieting the mind and allowing the full body to come to a state of relaxation. (The exercise begins at 2:30 into the podcast if you want to skip the intro.)

Episode 7: Sara Carnes

Honoring Mothers • May 5, 2020

In this Mother’s Day episode, we highlight a mom, wife, and on-air personality who is following her career dreams and still (somehow) has time to make sure she prioritizes her family. Sara Carnes, radio host on 95.5 The Fish and Cleveland Browns In-Game Entertainment Host, shares some of her adversities that brought her to Emerge Counseling Ministries, which then led her on a journey of self-healing through functional medicine. This episode is a great reminder that we should be praying, as we come out of this quarantine, that life will not just go back to being normal, but allows us to become something even greater than we were before.

Episode 6: Tish Granville

Defining Anxiety • April 21, 2020

There are several buzz words being used on a daily basis in our media currently — social distancing, flattening the curve, and pandemic are just a few. In the mental health world, the buzz word is “anxiety.” In this podcast, we spend time with Tish Granville, MA, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor at Emerge Counseling, to better understand what is happening when the entire world is experiencing a heightened level of anxiety.

Episode 5: Ben McLennan

Covid-19/Parenting in a Pandemic • April 16, 2020

In this episode, we discuss the ever-changing world in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Ben McLennan, Director of National Accounts at RightNow Media, shares how they as a company are responding to the overwhelming need for resources related to anxiety, the pandemic, and people seeking more information about faith and God. Ben also gives us a personal look into how he is navigating this “quarantine” as a father of six.

Click here to learn more about RightNow Media and its library of faith-based content.

Episode 4: Pastor Jarrod Williams

Coronavirus & the Church/An Adoption Story • April 14, 2020

With the world changing by the second, we have a conversation with Pastor Jarrod Williams from Redemption Chapel in Stow, OH. Pastor Jarrod discusses the state of affairs regarding the church and how it is dealing with the coronavirus. He then shares his story of how he and his wife endured a difficult period of infertility, miscarriage and the ups and downs of adoption. His story reminds us of how God is moving even in our darkest days.

Episode 3: Victoria Gutbrod

Trauma • April 8, 2020

In this episode we sit down with the trauma team leader at Emerge Counseling Ministries, Victoria Gutbrod, MA, LPCC-S. Victoria gives us insight into the integration of spirituality, the brain and trauma. Victoria shares her expertise and passion around understanding human behavior and how trauma impacts us all differently. She then leads us through a very calming technique — that each listener can utilize as a tool to use — to bring us back to homeostasis.

Episode 2: Katie Hickman

Perfectionism/Depression/Suicidal Ideation • March 31, 2020

In this episode we sit down with a former client of Emerge Counseling Center, Katie Hickman. Katie describes her battle with perfectionism during the formative years well into high school that eventually resulted in a panic attack. Her account for the need to be perfect is what opens her up to depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. Katie bravely shares her story and the ability she found in God to overcome some of the darkest emotions any of us can experience.

Episode 1: Greg Robb

Addiction/American Gospel • March 24, 2020

In this episode of Experience Emerge (ExEm), we spend time with one of the financial investors of the documentary American Gospel, Greg Robb. Greg shares his emotional story of addiction and the devastation to his family that proceeded. He recounts the genesis of adversities from growing up with addictive tendencies and then how that impacted his wife and children. Greg gives us an honest look at what it means to follow Christ, but also reveals some truths that are sometimes hard to hear.